Patna,(BiharTimes): For the first time in the history any chief minister of Bihar presided over the meeting of officials belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the state Secretariat and that too on Sunday.

Even the Station House Officers of SC, ST police stations as well as those running Dalit NGOs were also present on the occasion.Though the meeting was held away from the glare of the media yet some news could come out.

According to reports Jitan Ram Manjhi did some plainspeaking and once again listed out what he did for the Mahadalits in the last eight months as the chief minister. For example, he once again said that he distributed five decimal of land to the homeless SC, ST families against three decimals by Nitish Kumar.
When the journalists asked the chief minister after he came out of the meeting he said that ‘secret baat’(talks) were held inside the meeting. He refused to say anything more notwithstanding repeated prodding.

Whether it was a secret or confidential it could not be said categorically, but it is a fact that this is for the first time that Manjhi or any chief minister of the state has gone to such an exttent.Political observers are of the view that by calling the meeting of SC, ST officials Manjhi has once again posed a big challenge to Nitish Kumar.Manjhi wants to increase his bargaining position. So even if he crosses over to the BJP––as is being speculated after Dr C P Thakur’s statement on Friday––he may not be taken lightly.Sending a clear cut political message he reportedly said that from now onward parties would not be allowed to treat lightly the distribution of tickets for the SC, ST reserved seats. He also said that nobody would be allowed to mistreat and commit atrocities on Mahadalits.